Finance Ministry pauses gold tax to target grey money

Thailand’s Finance Ministry has put its proposed gold tax on hold and will bring the Gold Traders Association into a taskforce developing data-led measures against money laundering and grey capital.

The decision followed talks on Thursday (August 27, 2026) involving Permanent Secretary for Finance Lavaron Sangsnit and Fiscal Policy Office director-general Vinit Visessuvanapoom.

Dr Kritcharat Hirunyasiri, chairman of MTS Gold Group, also known as Mae Thong Suk, represented the association as its co-ordinator for bullion and online trading.

Kritcharat said ministry officials had indicated that the tax proposal was not being advanced or considered through any formal process at present.

“The gold tax was not discussed at this meeting,” he said. “The permanent secretary said there was currently no plan to introduce it, which should provide gold traders with some reassurance.”

The ministry had been considering a gold tax as one option for tracing transactions and preventing the gold market from being used to launder illicit funds.

Data links replace proposed tax

The talks instead focused on preventing grey-capital networks from laundering money through gold transactions.

The Gold Traders Association will join the “Connect the Dot” taskforce to supply industry information and help design stronger checks, including systems linking financial transactions with the movement of gold.

Kritcharat expected the taskforce to meet in September or as soon as its members were ready. Clear measures could be developed before the end of the year, with an emphasis on back-office systems that identify suspicious transactions without imposing tax costs on traders and the public.

The association proposed several measures:

• A shared data-integration system connecting four or five key organisations, potentially including the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), the Gold Traders Association, the Bank of Thailand (BOT), cyber police and commercial banks. The system would allow authorities to examine money and gold movements together.
• A proposed “Centralized AML Intelligence Platform” through which more than 7,000 small gold shops nationwide could access financial-risk information about buyers.
• Red-flag checks linked to identification-card data, comparing a customer’s apparent financial profile with the volume of gold purchased. Kritcharat cited the example of a street vendor buying gold worth several million baht at a time as a transaction that could warrant examination for possible money laundering.
• Stronger customer due diligence at gold shops of every size, particularly smaller operators. Such identity and source-of-funds checks are already required under anti-money-laundering law, but the association wants full compliance in practice.

If the government and the association can work together successfully against grey capital through this taskforce, the proposed tax could eventually be dropped altogether,” Kritcharat said.

Traders warn business could move underground

The association opposes taxation of gold transactions at every level, arguing that higher costs could damage the industry and push money and gold trading into underground markets, illegal channels or neighbouring countries.

Kritcharat said similar movements had occurred during Thailand’s 1997 financial crisis and were now evident in India and Vietnam.

He said government representatives acknowledged that a gold tax might generate relatively little revenue compared with its potential effects on the industry.

The association also argued that taxation would conflict with Thailand’s ambition to become a regional gold-trading centre. It said gold was the country’s second-largest import and export by value.

“We want Thailand’s gold market to serve the region, as Singapore’s does,” Kritcharat said. “That requires policies that encourage investors and reduce tax barriers.”

Cash-payment proposal remains unresolved

The association also raised concerns about a BOT proposal to restrict cash payments for bullion traded between gold shops.

The concept under discussion would reportedly impose daily cash limits ranging from 10 million to 80 million baht for each customer at each shop or branch. Related conditions could require customers to collect or deliver bullion in person.

Gold traders argued that cash limits would address the consequences rather than the source of money laundering because scammers could divide transactions into smaller amounts below any threshold.

The association also warned that setting the ceiling too low would increase costs and create obstacles for businesses operating legally.

It proposed making bank transfers more convenient to encourage customers to move away from cash. This would include improving identity-verification systems and making facial recognition easier to use for transfers exceeding 1 million baht, particularly for elderly customers who may struggle with the present process.

Kritcharat said the BOT had not issued clear requirements. The association asked to participate in the assessment of any measure affecting consumers and businesses rather than allowing government agencies to design the rules alone.

He said Lavaron had accepted the request and agreed to include the association in the taskforce developing the measures.